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T O P I C R E V I E W

Robert Pearlman

Soyuz TMA-06M mission to the space station

On Oct. 23, 2012, Russian cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy and Evgeny Tarelkin, together with NASA astronaut Kevin Ford will depart for the International Space Station (ISS) aboard Russia's Soyuz TMA-06M spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

The three Soyuz crew members will arrive at the station on Oct. 25 to join ISS Expedition 33 commander Sunita Williams, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Aki Hoshide and Roscosmos cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko, who have been aboard the orbiting laboratory since mid-July.

The Soyuz TMA-06M spacecraft was rolled out by train and erected on its launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Sunday, Oct. 21, 2012.

This is the first manned launch in 28 years from Pad 6 at Site 31, also referred to as the "Tereshkova" pad. The launch pad is being used as Site 1, "Gagarin's Start," undergoes maintenance and upgrades.

One astronaut, two cosmonauts and 32 live fish left Earth for the International Space Station (ISS) Tuesday morning (Oct. 23), lifting off from a Russian launch pad that has not been used for manned missions for almost three decades.

After the hatches between the Soyuz and space station are opened, Expedition 33 commander Sunita Williams and flight engineers Yuri Malenchenko and Akihiko Hoshide will welcome the three new flight engineers aboard for their five-month stay on the complex.

Robert Pearlman

Soyuz TMA-06M landing delayed by weather

Due to frigid weather conditions described as "horrible" at the landing zone northeast of Arkalyk, Kazakhstan, Roscosmos, Russia's federal space agency, decided to postpone the departure and return to Earth of Soyuz TMA-06M from the International Space Station.

An astronaut and two cosmonauts are now back on Earth, having spent the last five months off the planet performing science and maintenance aboard the International Space Station (ISS).

NASA astronaut Kevin Ford, together with Oleg Novitskiy and Evgeny Tarelkin of the Russian federal space agency Roscosmos, touched down Friday (March 15) on the frigid, cloud- and fog-cloaked steppe of Kazakhstan, northeast of the remote town of Arkalyk.

Descending under parachute aboard Russia's Soyuz TMA-06M spacecraft, the crew safely landed around 11:08 p.m. EDT (0308 GMT) or about an hour and a half after sunrise on Saturday (March 16) at the central Asia landing site.